Adjustable shelving and service device



BEST AVMLABLE COP Nov. 24 1925. 1,563,116

J. D. TINSLEY ADJUSTABLE SHELVNG AND SERVICE DEVICE Filed Oct. 15, 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 fly k Jag. a.

BEST AvAxLABLE com Nov. 24, 1925. 1,563,116

J. D. TINSLEY ADJUSTABLE sHELvING AND SERVICE DEVICE Filed Oct, 15, 1.925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 if f I Egg, 2f fg '/M 2g [five/2l .fn/wml Y'fzsley Patented Nov. 24, 1925.

BEST AVAlLABLE COPv PATENT OFFICE.

; JAMES D. rINsLEY, or NEAR BAKERSFELD, CALIFORNIA.

ADJUSTABLE SHELVING AND SERVICE DEVICE.

Application filed October 13, 1923.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES D. TINsLnY, residing near Bakersfield, in the county of Kern, State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Adjustable Shelving and Service Devices, of which the following is a detailed specification.

This invention rela-tes to shelving for the support and display of merchandise, being particularly adapted for usc in connection with nlcrchandise putup in containers such as boxes or cans.

One of the purposes of lthe invention is to provide a neat, attractive appearing dcvice, partitioned ofi' vertically and horizontally to provide mmpartments for the various articles to be displayed, and so constructing and arranging the frame-work and partitions that the compartments maybe varied in size both as to height and width.

The shelving is sufficiently deep to accommodate a row of articles arranged one behind the other in each compartment, and l have therefore devised means for advancing the entire row, after the foremost article has been removed, so the next succeeding article replaces the article removed. This arrangement is advantageous both from the fact that it prese-nts a pleasing, unbroken display to the'view of the prospective pur- Chaser in spite of package removal, and that it obviates the necessity of salesmen having to reach back on the shelves to secure articles originally rearwardly disposed on the shelves.

To accomplish the continual advance of rows, I provide a series of rollers for supporting 'the articles within each compartment, preferably inclining the members in which the rollers arc mounted so the row of articles will roll forwardly when the formost article is removed. In some cases, the series of rollers may be. horizontally arranged from front to back so articles placed thereon will not gravitate towards the front of the device. In such cases. I have arranged means for positively propelling the Serial No. 688,292.

articles forwardly. This positive propulsion means may also be taken advantage .of

in the event the articles are so light or the incline of the rolle-rs so slight that the articles tend to lag in their advancetowards the front of the device.

In Order that 'the width' o'f the compartments may be varied by moving the vertical partitions without requiring the substitution of rollers having different lengths for each variation in compartment width, I mount the rollers on the partitions themselves .and proportion their length so they extend beneath and :support only the ends of the articles (except when voccasion arisesl for reducing the width of certain compartments tothe limit bybringing two partitions together until the rollers are in end to end abutting relation). Thus the .partitions may be spread apart or ybrought together without the'interchange of rollers, the width of the spa-ces between the rollers ybeing the only varia-tion caused by the shifting of the partitions.

In connection with the partitions and the mountings of'the'ro'llers thereon, I have devised a novel structure which is noteworthy for its simplicity and .eiiiciencv Thispoint will be enlarged upon inthe body of the following specification.

I have also incorporated in my device a means for rendering it possible to quickly and easily ascertain the number of articles remaining yin each compartment without removing any of the articles. This is a great aid in the taking of inventory and in determining when a new supply of articles should be inserted in any one compartment without waiting until the display front is brok-en bythe unexpected emptying of a. compartment.

The shelving may be incorporated with i permanently fixed uprights or may be buil(- up in units. In the latter case it is preferable to mount the shelving device on casters so it may be conveniently moved from place l to place.

Other objects and features of novelty will be brought out in the following detailed description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the device; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the device; FiO. 3 is a framenta-ry vertical section on lines 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary enlarged .horizontal section on line 4-4 of Fig. 1, showing the corner construction of the device.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary rear elevation of Fig. 3, as viewed from the position of arrow 5.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary enlarged section on line 6-6 of Fig. 3. L

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary perspective of one of the partition and rollerunits. Y

Fig. 8 is a -fragmentary perspective vshowing one means for retaining the partitions at given distances apart; the rollers being omitted in this view, and v Fig. 9 is a perspective view of a belt and belt pulley used in connection with thedevice. Y

While my inventionis capable of adapta-7 tion to either permanently ixed supporting? structures or to movable supporting units', I will describe onlyan embodiment of the latter type, although such limitationin'the description is not to be construe/.l tation of the invention. f l

The frame work of the device is made up oit' side frames generally indicated at 10 and 11, each frame comprising'frontv corner post. 'l2 and rear corner post 13 joined b-y side plates 14, the side frames being maintained in spaced lateral'relation by' the 'forward angle irons or jcross bars 15 extending between and secured to the' front corner posts 12, and rearward angleirons or cross'bars 16 extending between and secured to' the rear corner post 13, there beinga companion :ingle iron 1'6 for each'forward angle iron 15. Tie rods 17 may be used,'if desired, to stillen the struct-ure. 'In order't-o render the unit easily n1ov'able.` casters 12a may be mounted oir-the 'lower extremities of posts -12 and 13. It is lobvious that cross-rods and diagonal bracing between posts 12 vand' 13 may be substituted for plates 14 without departing from the spirit of my invention, but the illustrated construction is preferable in that the side frames aie Vmore -re'adilyla'ssemble'd and that the sides ofthe device are fully closed in to serve as a protection against dust and dirt. An article supporting member generally indicated at 18 extends between each forward angle`iro-n"15 and'its companion angle iron 16, the horizontally arranged legs 19 of each angle iron serving as a rest and slide for member 18 andthe vertically arranged legs 20 and 20 of angle irons 15 and 16, respectively, serving as means for limiting the longitudinal movement of member 18. It of course lies as limi- BEST AVAlLABLE COP\ within the spirit of my invention to substitute independent, flatstraps in proper relation, forangles 15 and 16, but the angle irons shown are preferable from a manufacturing standpoint.

In Fig. 4 I have illustrated the preferred means for removably attaching angle irons 15 Van'd`16 t'o corner posts 12 and`f13. Horizontal legs or rests 19 of angle irons 15 and 16 are cut away a short distance from the extremities of each angle-iron, as indicated Yat 21, and tbe tabs 22 thus left at the extremities of each angle iron are bentl back at to rest against the inner faces of legs 12 or 13, and punched out at` 23 to receive the bolts A series of vertically aligned 'holes 25 is provided in each corner post, and plates 14 are'provided withholes 26 in register with holes 25. lThus, by removing bolts 24, vertically shifting angle irons 1 5 or 16, and replacing bolts 24, the vertical distance between thev forward angle irons v15 or between rcarward langles 16 may be varied to accommodate articles o f different. heights.'

Preferably, I arrange each-rearward angle iro-n 16 at a higher elevation than its cornpanion iron `1t, so that members v18 will in eline downwardly and forwardly. Ot course tbc angle of inclinev may be' varied :1t will by raising or'lo-wering anglel irons 16 and utilizing diiferentholesfin posts'13 for anchoring bolts 24. Plates-14 `are held to posts 12 and 13 by nuts 17":011- tie rods 17, corner post bolts 17b and angle iron bolts 24.

Members 18 are made up of partitions 2.7,.

which define the Sides. of compartments ,G, rollersupporting flanges 28, and rollers 29, these rollers being journaled-on shafts 30 which ypreferably extend through and are supported by partit-ions 27 andflanges 28. Figures 7 and 8 show a preferred form of article supporting member 18. In ilforniing the member 18 a. single sheet of material is first punched at 32 and 33 to provide a series of holes for supporting lshaft 31, then bent uponvitself at 34110 form central partition 27 each wall 35 of bhe partition -l'henvbeing bent horizont-ally to formvbases 36. and then bent back parallel to partition 27 to form iianges 28. Partition 27,' vbasesO, .and

tianges 28 `form aroller receiving channel,

in which the rollers are arranged in borizontal alinement, with thc tops oft-hc rollers projecting above the upper edges of anges. 28.v Bases 30 are adapted to rest on angle iron legs 19, and by sliding the members 18 over legs or rests 19, partitions 2T may be shifted laterally to form compartments of varying widths to accommodate articles of different widths. f

In order to preventmembers 18 vfrom being accidentally slid out of their pre-arranged lateral spacing, I may prcvine a spacing strip 36, preferably nrade up, of pliable material se that the ends thereof' may be 'bent inwardly at right angles to their body portion, the bent extensions 37 being adapt,- e'dto be. thrustbet-vveenthe walls 35 of the 'double partition 2 7. lThus when it is desired to make a change in the width of any one' compartn'ient, it is merely necessary to pull Iout strips 36, :shift inembersflS laterally -to vthe desired spacing, and rebe1id""stiip 36 to snit the new spacing so that ends ,37 may be again thrust Vbetween the, walls'of the partition. For obvious jreasons,` such supporting members 1Sa as lie adjacent the side frames and 11 are preferably constructed with but one set of rollersl and have but a single flange 2S.

' It will Abe vnoted that rollers 29 are relatively'shortand that the opposed rollers of two adjacent members 1S are adapted tosnpport only the ends of articles in any one -oinpartment.l By this arrangement andby reasono'f the factthat each series. of rollers is ,independently carried b v itsassoc-iated article supported member, the width ofthe compart-mentsnnay 'be varied and the width of. articles containedtherein variedaccordingly, without thenecessitv of substituting rollersof different lengt-hs. This is obvious` l v o f great advantage as va time saving element. for in 'rearranging the` partitions to -suit changing'conditions of article display itis merely necessary to slide the partition to one side ortho other without the necessity of removing or replacing ,any element of the device (with the texception of spacing strips -ll, and in certain cases. these stripsiln'ay be omitted entirely). lt will also be noted that for a given ralrinet o't. shelving, all members 1S are'inierchmigcable,except for those adjacent the sidewalls of the cabinet, and this is of course a featurelof great.- value from a mannfartnring standpoint since material ot uniform size and dimension is used throughout. and the amount of forming machinery is reduced to a minimum.

lt is evident. from the above Athat articles paced in a. -row on rollers 29 will gravita-te to ards tho front or forward end of the devire so as the foren'iostarticle is removed thc next succeeding article. will replace it, thus maintaining an unbroken display to the front ot' the device and placing eaclhy article wiihin'casy reach as it takes up a foremost posit-ion.

l-nlig. T l have. illustrated a means for accurately determining the number of articles reinaii'iing in any one compartment without the necessity of removing such articles one by one and counting theinand Without the necessity of a-tten'ipt-ing to count the articles b v glancing along the tops of the rows, ln Fig. l l have illustrated only one of suoli devices, but it will be understood it may be applied toany or all of the compartments. The indicating device is,v in effect, an inverted U shaped or channeled measur- BEST AVAlLABLE COP\ 8 ing stick 38' having a right angled projection or stop 39 at its rearward end.

'Indicator 38 is adapted to lit over the top ofpartition 2i' and islongitudinally 'slidable thereon.- Nnmerals 33? are painted or applic-dto the sides of indicator 38 and are arrangedlin inverse sequence from front to rear, the numerals bei-ng spaced apart a distance equalfto the width from front to rear of oneof the articles carried in the associated compartment. lThe numeral l is of course spaced-from stop 39 a distance equal to the width of one such article, and when a compartment is initially filled the indicator 38 is thrust rearwardly until projection 39 is flush with Vthe rear of the shelving. Thus, when the compartment is full, projection 39 prevents indicator 38 from being drawn forwardly, due to its contact with the rearmost. article, and the numeral exposed at the fornjardjend of the shelving will indicate the number packages in the compartment. Assuming that acertainnumberof articles have been removed from` a given shelf or compartment, in order to determine how many packages are left it isonly necessaryv l'or the opcratorzto grasp the lforward end of indicator 3S and draw it forwardly until projection 39 contacts with the rearmost package or article., lwhereupon the numejal exposed to the front of the foremost package is indicative of the number of 'packages remaining in 4the compartment.

,In some instances rather than depend on gravity, it is desirable to positively propel the articles forwardly after the foremost article is removed. This might occur when a certain member 18 were arranged horizontally rather than at an incline, or when the degree of incline of a member 18 is so slight, or the articles placed thereon' are so light as to render the'gravitation method i ncil'ectual` F or this purpose I journala pulley 40 in a carrier l1 'supported on one of the front angle ironsl preferably midway bctwe-en two adjacent partit-ions 35, mount a spring roller on brackets 43 at the rear of the device, and train a belt or tape 4l from roller ft2 about pulley 40, there being a follower att-ached to the free end of the belt.. Follower 45 is made up of base 4:6 which is of snflicient length to allow its' en ds to extend and ride upon the opposed rollers in a given compartnu-mt7 a follower plate 47 extending upwardly 'from base Llli, and a hand grip Li8 extending to the rear of the plate where it may be grasped for the purpose of manuallyY drawing the follower to the rear of thecompartment.

lCarrier il comprises a base :plate 49, brackets inwhich is journaled pulley shaft-51, vertical clip`52 and horizontal clip The metal making up clips 52.aiidf53 is 'preferablgy somewhat-pliable so siichclips may be bent int/o and out of clipping relation with theangle iron 15. rIhus, before attachment to 'the shelving, clip 52 is bent upwardly substantially into the vertical pla-ne of front plate 54, and clip 53 is bent upwardly into substantial parallelism with plate 54`whereupon the carrier is thrust up from beneath angle iron 15 until base 54 and plate 49 are brought into contact with legs 19 and 20, respectively,'the clips being then bent into the position shown in Figs. 3 and 9 to -hold the carrier to the angle iron 15 and yet allow the carrier to be moved along the angle' iron or shifted laterally for the purpose of positioning it centrally of the given compartment. It will be seen tha-t the entire carrier body may be made up from a single sheet of material 'and the necessary lmnching and forming operation may be performed thereon with the expenditure of but little labor.

Braekets43 are provided with clips 55 which are adapted to engage and slide along the vertical legs of angle iron 16, and the rearwardly extending plate 56 which are provided with a plurality of slots or notches 57, the fiattened ends of roller shaft 58 being adapted to be non-rotatively held in slots 57. The spring 59 is retained within the cored out center of roller 42 and so attached to the roller and to the roller shaft that with follower in the position shown in Fig. 3 the spring will tend to rotate roller 42 in a counter-clockwise direction to exert a pull on belt 44 and move follower 45 to the left in Fig. 3, or in other words, to draw the follower 45 toward the front of the coinpartn'ient within which it is contained. By reason of the provision of a plurality of slots 57 in each bracket 43, a single bracket may be used for supporting one end of a plurality of rollers arranged end to end but .laterally displaced, thus materially reducing the number of brackets required for a given unit etl shelving. It is evident that any two brackets necessary for supporting a single roller may be adjusted'towards or away from each other by sliding them along angle irons 16 and thus be made to aecominodate rollers of' di'ierentv lengths, and it is also evident that by supplying followers 43 in a number of standard sizes a unit o't shelving may be full)Y equipped with the various follower elements at a very low manufacturing cost.

I provide a series of numerals on belt l-l, locating the numerals so that the spacing between them corresponds to the front of' rear dimension of a single article within a given compartment, so the operator, by observing the numeral exposed at a predetermined point, say on roller 42, may ascertain how many articles remain unsold within the compartment.

It will be understood that I may make BEST AVAlLABLE COP"1 various changes in structure and arrangement without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention, and therefore I do not wishl to be limited to the specific embodiment disclosed except for such limitations as a fair interpretation of the appended claims may impart.

Having described a preferred form of my invention, I claim:

1. An article supporting member for adjustable shelving, embodying an elongated base, vertical flanges along the parallel sides of the base, an upright substantially midway between and paralleling the flanges, and horizontal rollers rotatably supported by and extending between the upright and flanges, the rollers extending above the upper edges of the flanges, and the upright extending vertically above the tops of the rollers to provide a positioning stop for articles supported on the rollers at each side thereof.

2. In adjustable shelving, the combination of side frames, cross bars extending between the frames at front and rear thereof, article supporting members with their ends resting and laterally slidable on the cross bars, each of said'members including a series of horizontal rollers and having sockets attheir forwardly disposed ends; and spacers extending between and connecting adjacent support-ing members to prevent relative lateral movement therebetween, said spacers comprising straps having angularly extending projections adapted to be removably entered in the socketsv of adjacent supporting members.

3. In combination, an article supporting member for adjustable shelving, embodying an elongated base, an upright extending longitudinally of the base, horizont-ally arranged rollers supported by the upright, said upright extending vertically above the tops of the rollers to provide a positioning stop for articles supported on the rollers; and an indicator mounted for longitudinal movement along said upright, the indicator embodying an elongated, inverted channel member whose legs are adapted to straddle the upper edge of the upright, said channel member being adapted to slide longitudinally along the upper edge of the upright and being graduated to agree with the fiont to rear dimension of a given article on the rollers, and having a projection adapted to be moved into association with the bac-k of the rearinost article on the shelf.

4. An article supporting member for adj ustable shelving, embodying an elongated sheet of material bent upwardly along its longitudinal edges to provide vertical flanges, the sheet being bent upon itself between said'flanges to provide an upright article positioning stop, horizontal rollers supported between the upright and Hanges, the rollers extending above the flanges, and the upright extending above the rollers.

5. In adjustable shelving, the combination of side frames, cross bars extending between the Jframes at front and rear thereof, article supporting members with their ends restingl and laterally slidable on the cross bars, each of said members embodying an elongated sheet of material bent upwardly along its longitudinal edges to provide vertical flanges, the sheet being bent upon itself between said flanges to provide an upright BEST AVAILABLE COPE article positioning stop, horizontal rollers supported between the upright and flanges, the rollers extending` above the anges, and the upright extending above the rollers; and spacers extending' between and connecting' adjacent supporting` members to prevent relative lateral movement therebetween, Said spacers comprising straps having angularly extending` projections adapted to be removably entered between the walls of the supporting member uprights.

JAMES D. TINSLEY. 

